Indian business tycoon to participate in Ferrari Challenge

Indian business tycoon and car enthusiast Gautam H. Singhania has qualified for the finals of the Finali Mondiali, the world's biggest event for Ferrari luxury car owners, an official said here Wednesday.

Singhania, the chairman and managing director of Raymond Ltd., will make a determined bid for the top honours at the biggest racing extravaganza at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi over the next few days.

The event, Finali Mondiali is being held first time outside Europe between Dec 3-6 and will be the culmination of nine qualifying races held during the current year.

Singhania will attempt to whiz past 458 challenger cars of the prestigious single-make championship events globally and comes close on the heels of the recent NGK Racing Series where he bagged a double win in Abu Dhabi.

"It is an immensely aggressive and competitive racing series with the top ten racers qualifying less than a second apart. I have my sights on the World Finals and look forward to a great racing weekend," Singhania, who is founder-chairman of Super Car Club, said of the event, where he will race over the next couple of days.

Singhania will compete with racers from the US, Asia-Pacific and Europe at the Finali Mondiali of Ferrari which is in vogue since 1993.

The Ferrari Challenge is a single-marque autosport championship specifically created for racing enthusiast owners of the Ferrari 348 Berlinetta, which is a mid-end, rear-wheel-driv V8-powered two-seater sports car.

The tourney proves a real treat for Ferrari fans as it showcases over 250 exotic and limited series Ferrari cars.

A pioneer in Indian motorsports, Singhani's SCC was launched to promote the popularity of the supercars like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, BMW and Mercedes in India.

Through SCC, Singhani organises the Parx Super Car Show and took up the Leh-Ladakh expeditions in 2013 and the Rajasthan Desert Escape this year.

This year, he became the first and only Indian to win the 2014 Ferrari Pirelli Open in Great Britain by scoring a podium finish at the Britcar Championships.